This past weekend we went on a little road trip to Albuquerque to attend a good friend's wedding. We drove down on Friday.
Mike was able to rearrange the car seats, and surprisingly they could all fit in the middle row
Happy little Sam
A little while later...
This is how Evie and Nora spent most of the trip - playing with their leapPads. They are kind of like little ipads for kids, and you can buy educational games, ebooks, videos and apps for them.
Mike and I spent the trip listening to audio books. Right now we are listening to the Mistborn trilogy, which was recommended to us by Beth and Reece, and we really like it. It's amazing how fun a road trip can be with a good book to listen to.
Here are the kids when we got to the hotel...Sam, what are you doing?
Busted!
The room we were staying in had a little kitchenette and dining table, which was really nice because I was able to bring some food for the kids
Our hotel was next to P.F. Changs, so Mike got some take out for the grown-ups
After the long drive, I thought a bath for the kids would be a good idea. Sam loves baths!
The wedding was on Saturday afternoon, so in the morning we went to the Natural History and Science Museum. Mike went there when he was younger, and was excited to see what was there that he remembered, and what had changed.
The girls liked the big dinosaurs out front
Mike and Sam in the dinosaur exhibit hall
Nora looking though the "fly's eye view" viewer
By a water dinosaur
Evie checking out a tank that had fish, rays and starfish
The volcano exhibit was really cool. You go up a path into a pretend volcano interior, and they have a pathway that is made of plexiglass, and underneath it there are dark rocks on the sides, and some kind of projection or something of lava, so it looks like a path of lava. Evie thought it was awesome, but Nora was scared to walk on it, and walked on the very side of it to avoid the lava.
Mike's favorite exhibit as a kid was the "Evolator" and he was very happy to see that it was still there. It takes a pretend journey through the earth to other time periods.
Evie watching the little video in the Evolator
The kids loved the naturalist center - where there were lots of hands-on activities. Here they are looking at butterflies though a magnifying glass
At this sand table, there were many different animal tracks that you could stamp into the sand
The bottom of one of the stamps - I think this might have been the fox prints or something
Sam and Daddy by the snake exhibit - they had several live snakes, as well as a snake skeleton you could look at
Nora looking at a feather through a microscope
Further on there was a hall that had an exhibit on evolution, with a horse as an example. The girls love horses.
This was one of my favorite exhibits we saw. It was about caves, and the different mineral formations you can find in them, and the animals that live in caves.
Mike and Nora looking at a cross section of a trunk from a giant redwood tree. It had little plaques on it marking the rings that would have been formed during major historical events.
A giant topographical map
Space exhibit
It looks like Evie is taking after her Grandpa Griffin and Great-Grandpa Christensen. She really liked the rock and mineral collection.
There was an exhibit about the history of computers. Mike especially liked this one. Here he is next to a really old computer.
They had several of these signs through the exhibit. It was really interesting to see how things have changed!
Microsoft's first professional team photograph
This is an appropriate movie rating...
This was an activity with an interactive map where you could write a little program to give a car directions to go pick up a pizza, then drive to a party. Our program was a little...creative, and didn't quite fulfill the objective, but the girls thought it was cool to watch where the car would go.
We went to a 3D movie called "The Ultimate Wave, Tahiti" about surfing in Tahiti. It was pretty cool.
I always love seeing the girls in their 3D glasses.
Here is Evie waiting for the movie to start. She is so little, the seat kept folding up on her.
In the afternoon, we went to Jeremy and Naomi's wedding. It was really lovely. They had the wedding ceremony in a little park in their neighborhood, and the reception in their backyard.
Jeremy and Naomi have 3 little Yorkies, and they all got dressed up and came to the ceremony. The girls absolutely loved all the dogs, especially Lila who was in a little polka-dot dress.
Just married!
With their cute little doggies
Mike and Sam
There was a bubble machine set up, and all the kids loved it!
Bubbles!
Here is Mike with his group of best friends - they have all been friends since elementary school! It was so much fun to see them all.
Gotta get some goofy shots...
Don't drop the groom!
Here is our little family
and taking a picture of taking a picture - courtesy of Jonathan and Nathan. Hehe.
Little shoulder buddy
Cutting the cake
They passed out little bubble tubes for favors
And had chocolate suckers
Sam enjoyed the toast (with sprite!)
Jonathan and Evie were corn chip buddies
Naomi dancing with the little girls - they loved it!
The girls dancing together
Poor Sam - he was so tired by the time we went home!
We had a great time in Albuquerque, but had to drive back home on Sunday.
Here is Nora, looking like she is in a leap frog commercial.
There always seem to be very cool clouds on our road trips to ABQ
Silly little mischief man
Evie and her LeapPad. She played one little alphabet video over, and over and over, and also played the pet game where you pick out a pet and can give it a bath and feed it.
Mike, our excellent driver
Three kiddos!
This picture made me laugh. Occasionally the girls would take a break from playing the LeapPads to watch a DVD, and there must have been something concerning in the movie at this particular point!
It was a short, but very fun trip!
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